FEATURE ARTICLES

Maintaining an organ with direct exposure to the environment is a remarkable achievement. Skin provides a renewable, self-repairing and defensive barrier to external influences. It is in a continual state of rejuvenation as the new skin cells make their way to the epidermis and also provides immune monitoring and pathogen defence via specialised cells.

In today’s competitive cosmetic market, one of the main challenges is to speed up product development while maintaining a high quality of work and adhering to the constantly changing regulations.

Ageing skin is characterised by visible signs such as altered pigmentation, wrinkles and loss of tone and elasticity. Thus far, two principal processes regulating skin ageing have been identified: one intrinsic dependent on genetic factors and one extrinsic determined by environmental factors such as exposure to sunlight, especially UV, and cigarette smoke or other external agents.

Through an adaptogen approach, a new active ingredient (AI) based on mushroom (Grifola frondosa Gray) extract, helps the skin to fight against stress and to maintain homeostasis.

The economic recession has affected many markets globally ranging from the construction industry and the automotive sector to textiles manufacturing and consumer product markets.

The UK Society of Cosmetic Scientists (SCS) has been organising their event SCS Formulate since 1999 and has developed the format to deliver a range of content ideally suited to the needs of formulators working in the personal care market.

The city of Buenos Aires will be hosting the 26th IFSCC Congress between 19 and 23 September 2010. Organised by the Argentine Association of Cosmetic Chemists (AAQC), the congress is regarded as the most important scientific and technical meeting of the international cosmetic world, and both the organising committee and the AAQC as a whole have been working hard to ensure a highly informative four days for every participant.

The 57th SEPAWA Congress and EDCConference from 13 to 15 October 2010 will be held in Fulda for the first time. The event will also be a first the DGK (German Society for Scientific and Applied Cosmetics) for whom 2010 will be their first Congress.

There is an enormous potential for obtaining new active substances from the oceans. More than 230,000 known marine plant and animal species provide us each year with approximately 100 million tonnes of raw material, mainly used by the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Squalane has been used in cosmetic formulations for many years as a highly effective emollient oil. It is derived from the hydrogenation of squalene which was, for many years, extracted from the liver oil of certain species of deep water sharks.

A new technique for solubilising lipids on a natural basis, and that is able to incorporate over 30% of lipids, has been used as a vehicle to obtain innovative cosmetic ingredients that are ideal for delivering a reduced amount of actives by keeping a high level of efficacy, in the form of a clear and jellying emulsion.

Fluid formulas are generally well appreciated by consumers as they encourage even and smooth application. However, the main difficulty with this area is the combining of good flowing properties with reproducible viscosities and good stability, especially at high temperatures.

Dr Richard Smith is the COO of Vivimed Labs Limited, with responsibility for the speciality chemicals business, which includes the beauty care and industrial care portfolios. He was previously managing director of James Robinson, which was bought by Vivimed in 2008. Personal Care spoke to Dr Richard Smith about the links between pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and what the future holds for the personal care industry.

The China Cosmetic market is always likely to be an interesting and attractive prospect to global cosmetic companies, due to the country’s huge population. China’s cosmetic market has demonstrated impressive growth over the past few years, however, the complicated cosmetic regulatory system and its rapid amendments make the cosmetic import business full of twists, turns and difficulties.

Humans are constantly exposed to harmful foreign chemicals and materials from exogenous and endogenous sources. As a result, defence mechanisms have evolved to protect against toxin overload.1 Cells are under constant threat from metabolic waste products and xenobiotics. The formation of phase I and phase II metabolism mobilises and excretes these mainly lipophilic toxins.

After a difficult year for some cosmetics companies in 2009, much hope had been placed on in-cosmetics 2010 at Porte de Versailles, Paris, to deliver reasons for renewed optimism.

Wrinkles, lack of firmness or sagginess are the most visible signs of skin ageing. A variety of environmental, hormonal, and genetic factors results in skin elasticity loss. Mature skin becomes less elastic and less able to resist any deformation, leading to many of the visible manifestations of ageing.1

Most people today accept without question the importance of vitamins and minerals to health and that extreme deficiency can lead to serious diseases such as scurvy.

Phormiskin Bioprotech G is a skin rejuvenator. This biotechnological concentrate of original life stimulates the synthesis of thioredoxin in the dermal and epidermal cells, delays skin senescence and improves skin radiance, freshness and homogeneity.

The potential for cosmetic formulations to induce skin irritation is an important consideration for cosmetics producers. Irritation potential may be predicted by in vitro systems, provided they are sufficiently complex to mimic the skin barrier in vivo.